Sergei Zacharov
Sergei Zacharov is the 8th General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and, as such, de facto national leader of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). He achieved his position after the death of Gennady Zyuganov on 23 December 1989 and his unanimous election eight days later on 31 December. Early Life Zacharov was born in Moscow on July 19, 1948 to Josef Zacharov and Ana Zacharovya, both of humble means. Growing up in a glum communal appartment, the young Zacharov was said to dream of the day when he, like his father (who had been conscripted into the Soviet Army) would fight for his nation and the Communist way. Always a passionately minded boy, his grades at school were not helped by a string of violent verbal attacks against those fellow students he proclaimed to be social fascists working for his people's great enemy, the United States. He joined the Communist Party in 1968. In 1971 he graduated from Moscow State University, having studied Law, and the following year married Maria Kadyrova, with whom he had already had two children. Immediately after his graduation, Zacharov joined the Navy, where he was soon promoted to positions of greater authority. Political Career In 1975, after his stint in the Navy, Zacharov was convinced by friends into standing for the position of First Secretary of the Yekaterinburg Kraikom. Surprising many, he was elected, becoming one of the youngest First Secretaries in Soviet history. Only in 1987 was control of the Kraikom finally ceded by Zacharov, who had shown himself to be a particularly ideological and hardline politician, forever indignant at the seeming weakness of the then Communist leaders. Indeed, it was the moderating and liberalising Gorbachev's (2 March 1931- 23 August 1988) political pressure on the Yekaterinburg Kraikom which led to his eventual dismissal. Zacharov's wilderness years were short lived however, as Gennady Zyuganov launched his well- supported coup against Gorbachev in March 1988. By March 25, Gennady was General Secretary and Gorbachev faced a show trial for treason and undefined Crimes against the Motherland (for which he was in that same year executed). The days of Perestroika and Glasnost were firmly over, and strong and forceful rule seemed once again to have returned to the USSR, along with the Cold War. Zacharov was immensely pleased at the political situation, and indeed it is suspected he was one of the masterminds behind the overthrow of the now disgraced former Soviet leader. Regardless, he soon found himself Premier, serving under the new General Secretary. In December 1989, certain outspoken remarks from Zacharov pertaining to the position in which the USSR's many Communist allies should be held, led to speculation as to whether Zyuganov (who, despite his evidently harsh line, was still seen as too weak by Zacharov and some others) would have him stripped of office. Later that month, on the 22nd, Zyuganov fell mysteriously ill. A day later, he was dead, and Zacharov found himself the only contender for leadership of one of the two remaining global superpowers. Cryogenic Freezing In April 1991, Zacharov made the surprise announcement he was to be cryogenically frozen. He said "Today, the Red Flag flies over much of Europe and Asia. In the years to come it will fly over the entire planet and eventually over worlds beyond this one. With everything going so well in the USSR and across the communist world, I find myself no longer needed for progress to be made." "Rather than waste my time with small details, I have decided to be cryogenically frozen. When either our worker's revolution is in danger or when the world is united under the red banner and we are preparing for our first steps into the stars, I will be awakened from my slumber. Then will be the time that I can be of service to our great cause once more. For now, I will rest, frozen in a great scientific feat." "I will be back when you most need me. Until then, I task you all with carrying on our eternal struggle."